Partner Swap
by DJ Mcloud
Summary: Seeing how him and Pyrrha and Nora and Ren always hang out, Jaune suggests they swap partners for the day. Dedicated to The Mounty Oum Project.


Jaune sighed in thought as the commotion of the cafeteria whirred around him. Across the table Nora was constructing an elaborate eight story mansion out of waffles while Ren was working on the finer details of structural integrity and shooting down all of Nora's ideas that involved some sort of syrupy explosion.

"What's wrong Jaune? Normally you're more invested in Nora's culinary constructions." Pyrrha sat down besides him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Well I've been thinking…" Jaune ducked out of the way as a piece of bacon flew by his head, propelled by a tiny harmer Nora made out of a fork and a sausage link. "Look at those two." He gestured to Nora and Ren, the male in perfect synch to keep her mess in line. "They've known each other forever and they've bonded so much that it only makes sense for them to be on a team together. We're doing pretty well too, we spend almost all our time training together, and obviously Ren and I are like brothers."

"Obviously." Ren said dryly as he poked his head out from behind a waffle wall.

"But aside from that it's like we're two pairs rather than one team, you and Ren and me and Nora never really spend any time alone together." He put his hand on his cheek.

"What're you suggesting?" Pyrrha quirked her brow.

"I got it!" He slammed his fist on the table, only hurting his hand in the process. "Ow… but I've still got it! As leader of this team, I say we make today a bonding day between the members of our team who rarely hang out, me and Nora, Pyrrha and Ren."

"Sounds plausible enough." Ren shrugged softly.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt…" Pyrrha chuckled nervously.

"Huh!?" Nora stepped onto the table, tappling the tower of waffles across the long bench. She grabbed Jaune by the collar. "But Ren and I are never apart! Neverrr!"

"…that must making going to the bathroom difficult…" Jaune whimpered as Nora threw him back into his seat.

"It'll be fine Nora." Ren smiled and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Fiiine, I guess…" Nora sighed and nodded, grabbing Jaune by the collar again and dragging him off. "You better be good at making pancakes."

"We just had breakfast!" Jaune whined, watching Ren and Pyrrha get further and further away. He waved to them nervously. "Uhh… see you guys later!"

Ren blinked and turned to Pyrrha. "So… uh… tea?" He rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh I'd love some, let's go." Pyrrha clapped her hands and smiled.

* * *

Nora and Jaune sat in silence in their dorm for quite some time, the woman becoming increasingly irritated as time went on and Jaune growing too intimidated to say anything. "You just gonna sit there or are you gonna say something!?" Nora screeched.

Jaune jumped. "Uhh… Nora, are you feeling okay…?" Jaune was growing worried, normally you couldn't shut Nora up unless she was asleep, but she had been sitting here stewing for nearly an hour.

"I'm FINE." She grit her teeth, clearly thinking something over. She'd been testy ever since they left the cafeteria. "So you, what do you do, Mr… Mr. Not-Ren!"

"Well I… uh… lately I've been training with Pyrrha more and more lately… I think I'm getting a lot better. Want to…" He was about to suggest the two spar, but with how strong Nora was and given her current mood, he didn't want to be on the business end of her hammer.

"Great idea! Let's fight!" Nora smirked before he could take it back, opening their window and jumping through, dragging Jaune with there. After a long fall out the second story, Nora's strong legs hit the pavement hard and she lifted a screaming Jaune and placed him in the courtyard.

Nora whipped out Magnhild, the hammer extending like a fishing rod. Jaune barely had time to grab his sword and shield before the woman rushed him, slamming the hammer into his shield and sending him flying back a few feet into a tree.

Taken by surprised, Jaune tried to recover himself and swing but before he could, Nora knocked his sword away and swung her hammer over her head. Jaune brought up his shield as the hammer came crashing down on it again and again, Nora laughing with glee, she seemed to be venting a great deal of frustration like this.

"Is this how you fight with Ren!?" Jaune's voice cracked. "That guy must've been made of steel!"

"I don't want to talk about Ren right now!" Nora shouted, jamming the end of the hilt of her hammer into Jaune's stomach, sending him backwards into a tree. She grinned sadistically, Magnhild folding up into its grenade launcher form and firing off a large pink blast that engulfed Jaune and decisively ended the match.

"That…" Jaune coughed up pink smoke and shakily stood up. "Was nothing like my fights with Pyrrha."

"Pyrrha, Pyrrha, PYRRHA! That's all I hear from you people!" Nora growled and sheathed her weapon. "Why should I care if Ren's off bonding with some perfect girl and they're probably getting along great!?"

Jaune blinked. "Nora, are you… jealous? Is that's what's wrong?" He stood up fully and walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. He knew their relationship was deep but complicated, he could certainly relate to that. "Isn't it good if they get along? We're all on the same team after all…"

"Well yeah!" Nora huffed. "I just don't want them to get along TOO well! Because then Ren won't… he won't…" She hung her head, holding back tears.

Jaune lowered his head and sighed softly. "Would it make you feel better if we went and checked on them?"

Nora's eyes lit up and she hugged Jaune. "YES! Comeonletsgo!" She took him by the hand and ran off.

"At least she's not dragging me by the neck anymore…" Jaune sighed.

* * *

A few hours later the two were in the bushes by a smoothie shop in town, Nora was holding a pair of binoculars, spying Pyrrha and Ren at one of the outside tables. Nora was wearing a large bushy fake mustache that looked very similar to Professor Port's while Jaune was in a light yellow sundress with a straw sunhat.

"Nora! Why don't I wear the mustache and you wear the dress!?" Jaune groaned.

"Because then they'll RECOGNIZE us, DUH!" Nora huffed as she looked through the binoculars.

"They'll recognize us if I wear man clothes!? WE'RE IN THE BUSHES ACROSS THE STREET!" He gave a whispered shout.

"Shut up! All your shouting is drowning out the listening device!" She grumbled as she held up a handheld satellite transceiver and pointed it at Pyrrha and Ren across the street.

"Where did yo- …never mind, I don't want to know…" Jaune sighed in resignation.

The device picked up Pyrrha and Ren's voices. "Oh my, I didn't know anyone else around here had read that one, it's a shame it's not part of the standard curriculum, it's a classic after all." Pyrrha chuckled softly.

"Of course, it's one of my favorites, it manages to be about war, and history and individual people all at the same time." Ren gave a bemused grin.

"And this herb smoothie is just great, the food at school isn't always the healthiest." Pyrrha picked up her cup of grass-green colored liquid and took a sip.

"It's designed with nutrients for combat, I make my own too. I've almost got the recipe perfected back home."

"Nora certainly raves about your cooking skills, I'm afraid I'm not very good in the kitchen."

"That's quite surprising, word is around the academy that you're just about perfect at everything else." Ren gave a teasing little laugh to show he was kidding.

"I… try to discourage those kinds of rumors." She waved him off with a laugh of her own.

Nora growled, watching the two laugh together, gripping the binoculars so tight that her fingers left dents in the plastic.

"Uhh… Nora…" Jaune reached out to her.

Nora grabbed his wrist tightly. "Look at them, having a JOLLY old time! Just like I thought, they get along just PERFECTLY!" She moved her arm without letting go of his wrist, jerking it violently.

"Nora… that hurts…" Jaune winced.

"Oh I'm HAPPY for them!" She grit her teeth. They're having so much FUN! They're PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER!" She roared, flinging Jaune over her shoulder and across the street, right onto Pyrrha and Ren's table.

"Jaune!?" Pyrrha gasped as the man landed between them with a crash.

"Today… has been nothing but pain…" Jaune groaned.

"What are you doing here? …and why are you in a dress?" She quirked her brow.

"Wait… I recognize that dress…" Ren looked across the street. "Nora!"

Nora popped out from the bushes, twirling her fake mustache. "Who's Nora? I'm Sir Bushystache from Vacuo, here on vacation with my wife, Lady Manlydress." She gestured to Jaune. "I don't speak'a your language very muchly." She chuckled nervously.

"Nora!" Ren said sternly and put his hands on his hips, giving her a serious glare.

Nora's normally bubbly aura shrunk and she hung her head and crossed the street like a puppy that peed in the house. "Ehehe… hi Ren…"

"What's the meaning of this?" He sighed, exasperated, putting his hand over his face and shaking his head.

"I… I…" Nora sniffled, starting to bawl loudly. "I don't want you to leave Ren! Once I realized how well you and Pyrrha would get along, I knew you wouldn't want to be stuck with me anymore!"

"What made you so sure we'd get along?" Ren tilted his head.

"Of course you'd get along! Look at Pyrrha, she's awesome!" Nora gestured to the red-haired woman as she helped Jaune up.

"Umm… thank you…?" Pyrrha blinked.

"I'm loud and wild and I break stuff all the time! …sorry about your scroll by the way Jaune. And I'm nothing like you! I don't know why you've stuck with me all this time and you should be with someone awesome who likes the stuff you like! She likes your books and your dumb gross grass shakes!" Nora sniffled.

"Nora…"

"You should go hang out with her and don't worry about me, I always make trouble for you!" She cried.

"Nora…"

"Go leave me and be with someone nice and normal!"

Ren hugged Nora tightly suddenly. "Nora, I don't want to be with someone nice and normal. I want to be with you."

"Nora sniffled, looking up at Ren with tear-filled eyes. "Huh…?"

"Yes, you're loud, uncontrollable, your train of thought is less of a train and more of a runaway wagon, and you're like a bull in a china shop, but I wouldn't want to have anyone else as my partner. I wouldn't have been with you all these years, since we were kids, if I didn't like you. I like making pancakes with you at 3am and not finishing cleaning up until 5am. I like the way you fall asleep when we read together. I like the way you make faces at my dumb gross grass shakes." He plucked the fake mustache off her face. "I even like that you'd go to such absurd lengths because you were worried about our relationship. Nora, you make every day of my life an unpredictable adventure." He smiled gently and touched her cheek. "And I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Ren…" Nora smiled brightly, tears still in her eyes as she hugged him tightly.

"So…" Pyrrha crossed her arms and glanced at Jaune as they watched the other two hug. "Were you… worried too?" She gave a sly smirk.

"I uh…" Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "Not at first, but the more Nora talked about it, the more I realized you two are a lot alike in a lot of ways. Her crazy talk had me kind of nervous."

"I can see that." She chuckled, looking over Jaune in the dress. "I think I like the white one on you better." She tapped her cheek with a grin.

"Uhh… it was Nora's idea, I swear." Jaune sighed and looked at the orange-haired woman hugging Ren. "You know… today was kind of fun. Painful, but fun. Being bossed around like this by Nora kind of reminds me of my sisters back home." He laughed to himself. "It was nice, even if things did get a little crazy."

"Jaune… yes Ren's nice, and I'm glad to have both him and Nora on our team, we do get along in a lot of ways but… Jaune. You're our… you're MY leader. And that's irreplaceable." She smiled and touched his cheek fondly.

Jaune chuckled and shook his head, thinking of how crazy he and Nora had been. "You're the one that's irreplaceable Pyrrha…" He looked into the red-haired woman's bright green eyes and smiled warmly.

"Oh…" Pyrrha blushed a bit. "B-Besides, I think your idea to have a bonding day worked out after all…"

"Heh, yeah I guess it did… not exactly as I planned it, but I guess it worked out all the same." He looked over to Nora and Ren, who both gave him a big smile.

"Come on guys, let's go home."

(Dedicated to The Monty Oum Project)


End file.
